Dutchman Tom Dumoulin moved into pole position to claim his first Grand Tour title at Spain’s Vuelta by storming to victory in Wednesday’s time-trial to move into the overall lead by three seconds.
Dumoulin posted a best time of 46 minutes, 1 second to take the 38.7km 17th stage around Burgos by more than a minute from Poland’s Maciej Bodnar and Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.
Italian Fabio Aru remained second in the general classification, but race leader at the start of the day Joaquim Rodriguez’s dreams of a home soil triumph appear over as he dropped back to third overall, 1 minute, 15 seconds behind Dumoulin.
Photo: Reuters
“To win by a minute is amazing. I was hoping also for the stage win and to get the red jersey, but it is amazing that it works out,” Dumoulin told Eurosport.
“It is only three seconds on Aru, so I’m a little bit worried, but I am just going to celebrate this with the team first and then think about the other stages,” he said.
Specialist climber Aru is now the favorite for overall victory as tomorrow’s penultimate stage includes four first-category climbs, but Dumoulin believes in his chances.
Dumoulin is a time-trial specialist having finished third in the world championships last year, but had shown his abilities as a complete rider to manage to limit the distance between he and overnight leader Rodriguez to just 1 minute, 51 seconds after nine mountain top finishes.
Indeed, the 24-year-old’s victory is his second stage win of the race after claiming stage nine on a summit finish ahead of Tour de France winner Chris Froome and he believes he can hold onto the leader’s red jersey until Sunday’s final stage in Madrid.
“It’s definitely possible [to win],” Dumoulin added. “It is going to be very stressful, but I guess that is the same for everyone. For me, this Vuelta has been a success already. Who could have thought I would be in the red jersey in the third week with two stage wins in my pocket? I will try to defend it and we will see.”
Aru, though, is closing in on his first Grand Tour win after impressively limiting the damage done to just three seconds with four stages remaining.
The Astana rider is hoping to go one better than his second place to Alberto Contador at the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, when the nearly three minutes he lost to the Spaniard in the time trial proved decisive.
“There are still four stages remaining and the difference isn’t that much so it is still to be decided,” Aru said. “I have to go for it, particularly in the three stages before Madrid.”
The race was to continue with a 204km ride from Roa to Riaza yesterday.
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